An illegal cargo of more than 2,000 assault rifles that were being smuggled on a fishing boat from Iran to the Houthi militia in Yemen was seized Tuesday by the US Navy in the Gulf of Oman.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper noted on Tuesday that a team from the USS Chinook – a Cyclone-class coastal patrol boat – boarded the traditional wooden sailing dhow last Friday, adding that the shipment is part of a continued pattern of destabilizing activity from Iran.
According to Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, the Chinook, along with the patrol boat USS Monsoon and the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans, seized 2,116 Kalashnikov-style AK-47 rifles individually wrapped in green tarpaulins.
Hawkins said that they resembled other assault rifles the US Navy previously seized on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Houthis in Yemen from Iran, adding that the Yemeni crew corroborated the origin.
Noting that the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates international law, Hawkins underscored that the six-member Yemeni crew will be repatriated to a government-controlled part of their homeland.
After a Houthi coup sparked a civil war in April 2015, the UN Security Council banned the supply of weapons to Houthi leaders, extending the embargo to the whole group in February last year.
Although Tehran never admitted arming Yemeni militia, Iran has been caught red-handed several times illegally shipping rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, and other weapons to the Houthis by sea.
The US Navy seized in December the illegal cargo smuggled on a fishing trawler from Iran to Yemen containing one million rounds of ammunition along with rocket fuses and propellant.
A month before, the Navy intercepted a boat and seized 70 tons of a missile fuel component sent from Iran to the Houthis. The fuel was hidden among bags of fertilizer and had enough power to fuel a dozen ballistic rockets.
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